Motor vehicles have become complex machines that contain a variety of mechanical, electrical, and embedded computer systems. Routine service is critical to ensure the safe and efficient operation of a vehicle. For example, customers who own a fleet of vehicles may spend a substantial part of the overall cost of operation on vehicle maintenance.
Traditional vehicle maintenance is preventive and designed to reduce the likelihood of service interruption. For instance, a vehicle owner typically follows the vehicle manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule. However, the manufacturer's maintenance schedule often recommends a predetermined and conservative schedule based on the manufacture's own estimates for normal vehicle usage without being able to account for the actual operational conditions of individual vehicles. As a result, vehicle parts often experience early retirement for vehicles operated in mild environments simply because the replacement of these parts is recommended by the maintenance schedule. On the other hand, vehicles operated in harsh environments may sometimes fail between two scheduled services because the maintenance schedule is not able to account for the particular driving conditions experienced by the individual vehicles.